A seven-year-old girl has escaped with cuts and bruises after falling into an 8 m sinkhole near her home in Shuttlewood, Derbyshire. Daisy-Mae Jones was playing with friends in a field near her home when she fell into the whole, which was about a meter across and covered by long grass. She was rescued shortly after by a neighbour with a ladder.
Daisy-Mae Jones with her mother, Janine Jones, close to the Shuttlewood sinkhole. Chad.
Sinkholes are generally caused by water eroding soft limestone or unconsolidated deposits from beneath, causing a hole that works its way upwards and eventually opening spectacularly at the surface. Where there are unconsolidated deposits at the surface they can infill from the sides, apparently swallowing objects at the surface, including people, without trace.
The cause of this particular sinkhole has yet to be determined, however the area has a history of mining, and it is possible that the incident was caused by sediment subsiding into a disused mineshaft. The sinkhole is under investigation by The Coal Authority.
The approximate location of the Shuttlewood sinkhole. Google Maps.
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